Today’s the day. The 17th solo album by acclaimed guitar maestro PAUL GILBERT (Mr. Big), I CAN DESTROY, is out now via The Orchard on iTunes, Amazon, and major retail outlets. A video for the album’s first single, “Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal,” can be seen on PAUL’s official YouTube page.

A full album stream premiered yesterday on AllMusic.com, while various interview video clips with PAUL GILBERT have premiered throughout the past week on GuitarWorld.com, GuitarPlayer.com, GuitarAficionado.com, UltimateClassicRock.com, ModernDrummer.com, and MusicRadar.com.

“My guitar playing was born from playing in my teenage heavy rock bands,” GILBERT explains. “After playing for 40 years, I’ve been able to evolve the way that I see the fretboard, and how I hear the guitar in my head. This opens up my soloing, and also my writing. I couldn’t have written this music when I was a kid. I couldn’t have written these lyrics either. I needed time to live…to experience joy, and anger, and love, and frustration at people who don’t use their turn signals.”

It’s no accident thatI CAN DESTROYcuts a wide swath of styles and textures, from the full-frontal assault of“Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal” to the jazz-blues lament of “One Woman Too Many” (which also features GILBERT’s patented four-pick Makita drill-bit riffery) to the radio-friendly balladeering of “Love We Had” to the smoking-hot gut/heart punch of “I Am Not the One (Who Wants To Be With You),” the latter track’s title a playful reference to the ubiquitous #1 hit GILBERT enjoyed as part of his gig as lead guitarist for the still-going-strong Mr. Big.

GILBERT knew that I CAN DESTROY producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Iron Maiden, Rush, Joe Bonamassa), whom he previously collaborated with on Mr. Big’s 2011 release WHAT IF, would push him to do his best from the get-go. “One thing I knew about working with Kevin as a solo artist is that there weren’t going to be that many overdubs on the record — not that many takes, and not many fixes,” he reports. “As a musician, that puts the fear into you. It’s a good fear, and it made me want to prepare in a pretty healthy way.”

With Shirley onboard to get behind the board, GILBERT next had to cull together some top-drawer musicians to bring into the studio. “On drums, we’ve got Thomas Lang, who’s somewhat of a drumming legend, and on bass is Kevin Chown,” details Gilbert. “He was the only guy I’d never worked with before, and he was great. He played all the right stuff. He’s played with everybody from Chuck Berry and Little Richard to Sebastian Bach.”

I CAN DESTROY is already racking up rave reviews. Guitar World proclaimed, “Gilbert’s dazzling guitar work is at the center of a group of songs that vary stylistically from the Iron Maiden/Judas Priest vibe of the title track, to the Thin Lizzy/Boston-like ‘Knocking on a Locked Door’ and ‘One Woman Too Many,’ to the Steely Dan-flavored strains of ‘I Will Be Remembered.’” While in a separate story, GuitarWorld.com declared, “...Gilbert cuts a wide swath of styles and textures. There's the full-frontal assault of‘Everybody Use Your Goddamn Turn Signal,’ the jazz-blues lament of ‘One Woman Too Many’ (which also features Gilbert's patented Makita drill-bit riffery) and the gut/heart punch of ‘I Am Not the One (Who Wants to Be with You).’”

In further news, PAUL GILBERT is gearing up for this summer’s Great Guitar Escape 3.0, which is being held July 25-29 at the Cambria Pines Lodge in Cambria, CA. Packages are available at the event’s official site, www.GREATGUITARESCAPE.com.

For the camp’s third year, the legendary shredder went all out and invited a few iconic friends to join him as guest instructors. These include Megadeth’s Kiko Loureiro and Dave Ellefson as well as former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal (Art of Anarchy), Andy Timmons (Danger Danger), and master jazz guitarist Mimi Fox. This all-star lineup will be hosting workshops, reflecting their signature sounds and styles and offering an immersive experience for 75 campers. Moreover, they’ll be jamming, performing, and hanging with you 24/7. About the Great Guitar Escape 3.0, GILBERT comments, “I really feel like we got the best lineup possible for version 3.0. Each instructor brings something extremely unique to the table. You’re going to learn, feel inspired, and most of all have a great time. This is four days of complete and total guitar immersion. We can’t wait. Get ready!”